Bipartisan action likely into leaks of US ‘kill list’

The Obama administration is facing a potentially hazardous inquiry into leaks of secret national security information after Democrats and Republicans in Congress came together in a rare show of bipartisanship.

Members of the House and Senate intelligence committees vowed to get to the bottom of the leaks about a presidential “kill list" for drone attacks, cyber warfare and the Yemeni underwear bomber, and let the “chips fall" where they may.

They said at a press conference the leaks had endangered officials on risky assignments, jeopardised co-operation with allies and sources and compromised national security.

The leaks about the drone kill list formed the basis of a New York Times series about the processes by which the US President authorises assassination attempts against suspected high-level terrorists.

The stories sparked a debate about the propriety and legality of the assassinations because innocent lives are risked and the decision-making process lacks normal checks and balances.

Senior Republicans such as senator
John McCain
have accused
Barack Obama
’s administration of putting national security at risk for political purposes by leaking the information to enhance the President’s image as a tough national security leader. White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed this, saying: “Any suggestion that the White House has leaked sensitive information for political purposes has no basis in fact and has been denied by the authors themselves."

House intelligence committee chair Mike Rogers, a Republican, said an outside investigator was needed because the CIA had said it could not respond to the committee’s requests for information about the leaks and the Department of Justice’s national security division had excused itself from part of the investigation.

Mr Rogers said this suggested leaks could have come from within the Department or the FBI, from sources in a position to influence the investigations. He described the CIA’s refusal “very troubling".

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Senate intelligence committee chairman
Dianne Feinstein
, a Democrat, said: “When people say they don’t want to work with the United States because they can’t trust us to keep a secret, that’s serious."

But she said committee members were still deciding the best way to proceed to quick results. “A special prosecutor can take years," she said. “We don’t have years. We need to legislate. We need to get some solutions before us very quickly."

Asked if she was worried about embarrassing the administration in an election year, she said: “Wherever the chips fall, they fall."